The Twelve Days of Christmas
by Darkchilde
Summary: The Christmas Spirit is all around. Sometimes you just need someone to help you find it.
1. Chapter 1: So, You're the Real Santa?

_**Disclaimer: **_If I owned it, do you think I'd be this badly in debt? Everything recognizable belongs to the Mouse and all associated with him.

This is a response to Reylsi_Fan's Elf Challenge over on LJ. Come and join the fun!

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

_Chapter 1: So, You're the Real Santa Claus?_

Kelsi Nielson was never, _ever_ going to let her mother talk her into anything, ever again.

When her mother had first asked her to help out at the Women's Crisis Center where her mother herself volunteered on a regular basis, Kelsi had figured she would be ladling soup or handing out blankets. But no—her lovely mother had volunteered her to play one of Santa's elves. Kelsi wondered if this was her mother's payback for the sixteen hours of labor she'd had to go through when Kelsi was born.

The small brunette stared at herself in the helpfully positioned full length mirror, turning left and then right to get the full affect. She was wearing bright green tights, bright red, knee high boots, some sort of green and red tunic, and a red and green elf hat, complete with bells. As if the outfit wasn't humiliating enough, her mother had also found a pair of elf ears to stick to her real ears and painted red circles on her cheeks.

Kelsi wondered if justifiable matricide would get her on the naughty list. She thought she had a pretty good case for it, if she got the chance to defend herself to the Jolly Old Fat Man in Red.

"Kelsi?" Star Nielson called, appearing at the door of the dressing room where her daughter was currently getting ready for her most recent humiliation at the hands of her mother. "Are you—oh, you look _adorable_!"

Kelsi glared at her mother as best she could—she wasn't actually allowed to wear her glasses, and her mother was supposed to be getting her contacts from home so Kelsi wouldn't accidently dismember someone with a candy cane.

"I have your contacts." Star assured her, moving forward to place the case in her daughter's hand. Kelsi's fingers wrapped around it, and she managed to blunder her way into being able to see again. She blinked rapidly, trying to get the contacts to settle, and then peered at herself in the full length mirror. It was even worse in focus.

"Mom." Kelsi started, but Star didn't give her a chance. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her daughter, resting her chin on her shoulder. Star was only an inch or two taller than her daughter, so it wasn't like she had to bend down far or anything.

"Thank you for doing this, Kelsi." Her mother said, looking at their reflection in the mirror. "It means a lot to me that you are, and it means a lot to the people who run the Crisis center. And I know it'll mean a lot to kids coming to see Santa."

Kelsi sighed. How was she supposed to argue with that?

"I know." She said, reaching up to adjust her cap. She smiled slightly, as something occurred to her. "And it's not like their coming to see me—all the kids are going to want to see Santa Claus."

"Right. Although you do look absolutely adorable." Star beamed, and Kelsi blushed under her makeup.

"_Mom_." She groaned, and Star laughed, giving her another squeeze before letting her go.

"Now, all you have to do is take the picture, and then give the kid a candy cane. Santa will handle everything else." Star assured her, and Kelsi nodded, before tucking one of her dark curls behind her—fake—ear.

"Let's get this show on the road." She declared, adjusting her cap to a jauntier angle.

--)---)----

Two hours later, Kelsi was two seconds away from demanding a hysterectomy for Christmas from her mother. Some of the children—_most _of the children—were extremely well behaved and waited patiently for their turn to sit in Santa's lap and give him their Christmas list.

However, it was the handful of hooligans that were inches away from having candy canes stuck up their noses. They ran around and screamed, and one nasty little boy seemed intent on torturing everyone in the line before he was done. The boy's father stood perfectly still and called for his son to come back to him, and then would sigh and shake his head when the little hooligan would ignore him.

The little brat—Kelsi thought his father was calling him Matt—seemed most intent on torturing one of the better behaved children. The little girl had a pair of long black braids falling down her back from under a purple knit cap, and Matt the Brat seemed to think those pigtails were put on this earth for him to pull. The pretty little girl yelped every time he tugged at them, but other than that didn't make a move to get away from him or retaliate.

Kelsi shot a nasty glare at Matt the Brat's lazy father one more time, before resolving to give the poor little girl two candy canes once she got a chance to see Santa Claus.

She had to hand it to the Center though—they had gotten one _hell_ of a Santa Claus. So far he'd known every child she'd lead up to him on sight, and called them by name and spent several minutes apiece just talking to whatever child he happened to have in his lap. He had a nice voice too, Kelsi thought, and the prettiest blue eyes. Seriously, she would have loved to have seen a Santa like this when she was younger. She wondered if he did this professionally, or if he was a volunteer like her.

The trouble started just as she was leading the well behaved little girl up towards Santa. Her mother, a petite woman in a worn brown coat, smiled down at the little girl and waved. The baby—she couldn't be more than three or four, looked back at her mother in panic for a moment, before looking up at Kelsi and taking her hand. She was up two of the four steps of the platform where they had set Santa's throne when Matt the Brat decided that he just wasn't going to wait around for his turn to see Santa anymore.

With a primal scream, the little boy flung himself up the steps, barreling into Kelsi's legs as he did so. Unfortunately, the boots Kelsi was wearing had nothing in the way of tread on the bottom of them, and the steps up to Santa's throne had been shined to a high gloss. This, combined with the fact that Matt might have been _young_ but he wasn't exactly _small_, all worked against the plan—the plan being, of course, for Kelsi to stay on her feet.

Kelsi shrieked as her world spun wildly around her, and she had just enough time to be glad that she had let go of the pretty little girl's hand before Matt the _Huge_ Brat knocked into her. Her head knocked against the linoleum covering the cement floor with a loud crack that was the last thing she heard before stars exploded in front of her eyes and then everything went black.

--)---)----

A loud sob was the first thing she heard as she swam her way back to the waking world. She opened her eyes, and blinked—and blinked again. Santa Claus was hanging over her, his worried blue eyes studying her intently.

"You killed Santa's _elf_!" A hysterical voice shrieked, and Kelsi blinked again, trying to lift her head enough to see who was crying so hard.

"Don't move, Kelsi." Santa told her, his voice slightly muffled by the full white beard he was still wearing. He looked up, waving to someone she couldn't see. "She's over here."

"What _happened_?" A new voice asked, and Kelsi managed to turn her head just enough to see a tall black man with a pony tail jog into view, a pretty little girl with dirty blonde curls on his hip. He sat the little girl down back away from Kelsi and Santa, before dropping to his knee on Kelsi's other side. He quickly reached out to stop Kelsi from sitting up. "Stay still, sweetheart."

"I'm sorry!" A little girl's voice was wailing, and Santa looked away from Kelsi toward the voice. Kelsi was just able to make out the little girl she'd been taking to see Santa before the hellion bowled her over bawling in her mother's arms.

"Baby, it's not your fault." Her mother was trying to comfort her, but she was having none of it.

"I'm sorry Santa! I'm sorry!" She continued to wail, and Santa looked back the tall man before looking down at Kelsi.

"Kels, I'm going to leave Malik here with you. He's a paramedic. I'll be right back, okay?" He promised her, and she tried to nod.

"Don't move, sweetheart." Malik—she assumed the tall man kneeling next to her was Malik—told her. "I've called for a bus, you'll be alright."

"A what?" Kelsi asked, looking up at him. He smiled down at her—he had a beautiful smile.

"An ambulance. We're going to take you to the hospital, okay?"

"What?" Kelsi demanded, trying to sit up. Malik restrained her with a hand on her upper chest, his look pointed. "I don't need to go to the hospital."

"Honey, you were unconscious for about five minutes. That's not good." Malik told her, looking up and away from her.

Kelsi managed to turn her head just enough to see Santa kneeling in front of the hysterical little girl, talking quietly to her. After a moment, the little girl started to settle down, scrubbing at her face with her hand. After another moment, she leaned forward to hug him, burying her face against his red velvet shoulder. Santa stroked her back gently, before handing her over to her mother to comfort, patting her on the back gently before he made his way back over to them. And then he was kneeling beside her, and peering down into her face.

"You still with me, Kelsi?" He asked, and Kelsi tried to nod. "Don't move, baby."

"Yes, I'm fine." Kelsi told him. That's when she heard the sirens, and she groaned. "And I don't need to go to the hospital."

"Yeah, actually, you do." Santa Claus told her, and Kelsi frowned.

"No, I don't. I'm fine. I just have a little headache." She told him, and Santa snorted. It looked weird, because it made his beard fly up and out, before sticking to his nose a little bit.

"Kels, one of your pupils is completely blown. You have a concussion. You need to go to the hospital. Now, stop arguing with me or I will put you on the naughty list."

"Do I know you?" She managed to get out before promptly blacking out a second time.

--)---)----

When she came too, she found herself being rolled along a very white, very long hallway. Worried faces hovered above her, but none of them were her mother's—or Santa Claus's. A small part of her was a little freaked out that she was here by herself, but the larger part was way more interested in what exactly they were going to _do_ to her while she was here.

The answer to that turned out to be tests. Lots and lots of _tests_. They scanned her head, her back and her chest. They flashed lights in her eyes. They stuck her fingers with pins, and they whacked her knees with a hammer.

After nearly two hours of this, a doctor wandered into the little cubicle where they were keeping her between tests and informed her that she had a relatively mild concussion and that they would release her as soon as her mother got here.

Kelsi managed to force a smile onto her face, and nodded when the doctor told her to sit tight for just a little longer. As soon as the young doctor wandered back out, she slumped over backward, groaning in annoyance. This would have to happen to _her_. Not only was she stuck at the hospital, she was stuck at the hospital in _an elf costume._ Seriously, could this day get any worse?

"Oh, he _must_ have come with you." A cheerful voice bubbled from the doorway of the little cubicle she was sitting in, and Kelsi turned to look at a plump little nurse, who was smiling brightly at her.

"Excuse me?" She asked, even though all she wanted to do was throw things and demand that the woman leave her alone right now.

"Santa Claus, of course! He is _so good_ at it." The little nurse continued, lowering her voice on the last statement. "The kids in the pediatrics' ward are just eating him up."

"Santa came with me?" Kelsi asked, confused.

The little nurse nodded, her dark brown bob swinging. "Mm-hm. They wouldn't let him back here with you because he's not family, but he road over in the ambulance with you. Cracked the guys up, but he said that no way was he going to let his favorite elf go to the hospital by herself."

Kelsi blinked rapidly, deep in thought. _Did_ she know Santa Claus? Something about the voice was familiar, though she could tell he was speaking with deeper voice then he had naturally; and she was pretty sure she'd seen those baby blues somewhere before. However, her recent head injury was making it hard to think, so she just asked the first thing that popped into her head.

"What's he doing in the pediatrics' ward?" She asked.

"Playing Santa, of course." The nurse gurgled, and Kelsi nodded, before realizing that this was a very bad thing to be doing as it made her brain feel like it was tumbling around in her skull, and that sucked.

"Oh." She said instead, and the nurse beamed at her.

"Now, you just sit tight, and your mother should be here in just a few moments." She told her, and Kelsi stopped herself from nodding again.

"Okay." She agreed, and the plump little nurse bounced off.

As soon as she was out of sight, Kelsi jumped down and made her way out of the cubicle room. Hey, if Santa Claus was going to follow her to the hospital, she at least owed him a ride back to his sleigh or whatever, right?

Right.

--)---)----

After a few misses, Kelsi managed to make her way to the children's ward of the hospital. Kelsi took in the brightly colored wall paper, and shuddered just a little bit. No matter how they dressed it up, this was still a place where sick children were brought and stayed and sometimes even…didn't leave.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she followed the excited chatter toward one of the lobbies in the large ward. She turned a corner and stopped, a smile pulling at her lips.

Santa Claus was sitting in the middle of the lobby, two little children—a boy and a girl, judging by the colors of their pajamas—perched on his knees, with a third child—another little boy-- apparently trying to climb him like a tree from behind. Various other children were scattered throughout the room—some in wheel chairs, some standing, some in their parents' arms. No matter where they were though, their eyes were trained on the man in the red suit, bright smiles on their faces.

Santa himself seemed to be in his element. He laughed—both the classic 'Ho ho ho' and another, more familiar laugh. It was quick and light, sudden and warm. He caught himself at it a few times, and rapidly deepened it into the 'ho ho ho' that was expected.

Kelsi watched him for a moment longer, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the wall, just watching the scene in front of her unfold. Her smile grew, the longer she watched Santa with the children. She was really going to have to compliment her mother and the people at the Crisis center—they had found one amazing Santa this year.

A little girl in a wheelchair looked up and caught sight of Kelsi standing against the wall. Her face lit up, and she beamed at Kelsi, before whipping her head around to look at Santa again.

"Santa! Santa! Is that your elf!?" She called with a barely noticeable lisp, pointing at Kelsi. Santa looked up from the little girl he was listening too, before waving happily at Kelsi.

"That she is! My favorite elf, right there. You know, she's the reason I stopped by a little early to see you guys this year." Santa told them, and the little boy in his lap looked over at her, his round glasses slipping down his nose.

"Really? Why?" He asked, looking back at Santa.

"Well, you see, poor Mistletoe was getting the reindeer ready for a practice flight, and, well, Dasher got a little anxious and knocked the poor thing down." Santa told the crowd of children. "He didn't meant to, of course—he feels horrible about it, I know. But, she took a nasty little spill, so I brought her here so the doctors could fix her up."

"Don't you have a hospital at the North Pole?" The little boy who was climbing Santa like a Christmas tree asked, his arms around Santa's neck.

"We do, but I wanted Mistletoe to get the best possible care—so I brought her here!" Santa told the children, who all began murmuring and giggling in happiness at his statement. "And now, that I see Mistletoe is all better, I'd better get her—and me—back to the North Pole. Still have a lot to do before Christmas you know—this is my busiest time of year."

The two boys currently clinging to him slid off, reluctantly, but the little girl clung fast. He shifted slightly so he could look at her better, and she sat up straighter, wrapping her arms around his neck and snuggling against his chest.

"Well you come back, soon?" She asked, and Santa patted her back.

"I will. After all, you're all on the nice list—I have to drop off all your presents!" He told her, and she smiled brightly.

"You won't forget?" She asked, and Santa shook his head.

"Never." He promised, and Kelsi blinked hard, pressing her lips together. The little girl kissed his cheek happily, before sliding off his lap and toddling back to her parents.

Santa watched her for a moment, before standing up and straightening his suit. Lifting his hand, he waved to all the children watching him adoringly, a grin visible under his heavy white beard. "Now, remember to be good, so you all stay on the nice list: eat all your vegetables, do what your parents tell you too, and remember that if you blame something on your little brother or sister, I'll know. I'm a little brother too, I know how you older siblings get."

The children tittered, and Kelsi giggled as well, putting a hand over her mouth to stop it. Santa walked toward her, the children calling good bye and waving. He turned and walked backwards, waving to all the children as he did so, before he reached her side.

"Alright, Mistletoe?" He asked, and Kelsi grinned at him.

"I'm great, Santa."

"Alright, than! Back to work we go!" He declared, more for the children's benefit than anything else, she thought. With one last wave, Santa and Kelsi made their way out of the lobby, and towards the elevators.

Only once they were closed, did Kelsi turn to look at the Santa Claus standing beside her. Half a dozen questions were dancing around her head, demanding an answer, so she opened her mouth and let one of them out.

"Mistletoe?" She demanded, before biting down on her tongue. That wasn't the most important question she wanted answered, but it seemed to be the one her wounded brain wanted to ask.

"It seemed to fit. It was either that or Christmas Carol, and I liked Mistletoe better." Santa told her, and Kelsi stared at him, her mouth working but no sound coming out.

Finally, she regained control of her vocal cords. "Okay, _who are you_?" She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. "Because I have to say, you're starting to creep me out a little bit."

Santa looked over at her, lifting busy white eyebrows. "I'm Santa Claus."

"Seriously."

"Seriously."

"So, you're the _real_ Santa Claus?" She asked, and he grinned at her.

"Maybe." He agreed, and Kelsi snorted.

"Sure." She said, before studying his face again. "Come on, tell me who you are. I know I know you from somewhere."

"From all those Coke ads they run this time of year." Santa told her, and Kelsi glared.

"Don't you know it's not nice to tease people with head injuries?" She demanded, and Santa laughed again.

"Speaking of which, what did the doctor's say?" He asked.

"I have a concussion. Don't change the subject." She told him. "Do I have to rip that beard off of you to find out?"

"Please don't." Santa asked, reaching up to stroke the white hair on his face. "It's glued on, that would really hurt."

"So, tell me who you are!" She demanded, and Santa laughed once again.

"You know, we've been going to school together since we were _six_ and you don't even recognize me. That hurts Kelsi, it really does."

Kelsi's mouth dropped open, and she leaned forward, peering at Santa Claus's face, trying to see through the heavy white beard, glasses and white eyebrows. It suddenly clicked into place, and Kelsi's mouth dropped open even farther.

"No way."

"You're seriously going to make me take this beard off, aren't you?" He asked, and Kelsi gasped.

"Ryan?!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs.

Ryan Evans—dressed as Santa Claus—grinned back at her. "Took you long enough, Mistletoe."


	2. Chapter 2: The Best Way to Spread Christ

**_Disclaimer: _** It still belongs to the Mouse, and I'm still not making any money off of it. ****

**_Author's Note:_** Thank you so much for all the great reviews! You guys are the best! :)

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

_The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear_

Kelsi leaned back against the couch, her feet propped up on the coffee table in front of her, her head spinning just a little from the pain killers the hospital had given her mother at the hospital yesterday. The TV was tuned into one of those inane Christmas specials they loved to run at this time of year, but Kelsi was cheerfully ignoring it. Her mother had been watching it, but she had gone to get the Indian take out they had ordered for dinner.

With any luck, her mother would relent about her decision not to let Kelsi go to school tomorrow. It was a Monday, but they got out of school for Winter Break on Wednesday, so it wasn't like they would be doing anything important. They'd finished their semester finals on Friday, so the next two days were basically an extended party and an excuse to hand out the candy-grams the student government sold every year.

She closed her eyes, just as the people on the TV started singing. The song itself wasn't that bad, she just wasn't in the mood for Christmas carols at the moment.

Kelsi snorted, her wounded brain presenting her with the image of Ryan Evans decked out in his Santa suit, declaring that she was lucky he hadn't decided on Christmas Carol for her "elf-name". She was quite glad he had chosen to go with the slightly less ridiculous—but not by very much—Mistletoe. At least the kids at the hospital had gotten a kick out of it.

Kelsi could feel her rueful smile soften when she thought Ryan and the pediatrics' ward of Our Mother of Mercy Hospital. It wasn't that she's ever thought that Ryan was a particularly _bad_ person—when he wasn't changing her songs that is—she'd just never pictured him as the type to play Santa Claus to a bunch of little kids. But then again, Ryan did love to perform; and the little kids, both at the Center and the hospital, had been one heck of an appreciative audience.

But how had the Center even _found_ Ryan? Kelsi pondered this for a moment, as the Christmas special went to commercial. Kelsi muted the TV in annoyance; jiggles tended to give her a headache even when she _didn't_ have a head injury.

Just as she was returning to her pondering of Mr. Ryan Evans, soft singing—steadily growing louder—reached her ears. Kelsi turned her attention to the TV, but it was still muted. For a minute, she wondered if this was one of the delusions the doctor at the hospital had warned her about. She was going to have to remember to tell her mother.

Just as she was thinking this, Star Nielson flung open the door into the living room from the front hallway, her cheeks still rosy from the chilly wind and the bag of take out from the Indian place in her hand.

"Kelsi, come quick!" She beamed, dropping the food on the coffee table and gesturing at her daughter. "Christmas carolers!"

"What?" Kelsi asked, pushing herself up off the couch and following her mother to the front of the house, where she stopped to put on her jacket before joining her mother on the front porch.

Just like her mother had told her, a group of people—ranging from old enough to be one of her grandparents to barely toddling age—were standing on their neighbors yard, singing. And, as was not the case with many of these roving bands of carolers, they were actually singing well. _Really _well, actually.

The group finished with their cheerful rendition of "Deck the Halls" and launched into a beautiful version of "Hark! The Harold Angels Sing", with a leggy redhead belting out an impressive solo. Star clapped like a little girl, and Kelsi giggled at her mother's enthusiasm, but joined in on the applause as well. The carolers definitely deserved it.

As soon as the more grown up carol was finished, several of the smaller children—including a suspiciously familiar little girl with long black braid sticking out from under her purple toboggan, shuffled their way to the front. A young man, wearing a festive red and green knit cap, stepped out in front of them and dropped to a knee on the grass. He held out his hands and the children promptly began belting out a loud rendition of "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer".

Kelsi laughed happily along with her mother, cheering even more enthusiastically for the little ones than she had for the adults. For some reason, her eye was drawn back to the children's conductor, taking in his stance and the hat on his head. He was too far away for her to make him out clearly, but something about him was familiar, and her brain just wasn't putting it together.

As soon as their song was done, the children returned to their parents—all but the little girl with the dark braids. She clung to the young man's leg until he lifted her on to his hip, dropping back into the line with her. She lost track of them for a few songs, as they blended in with the happy carolers, who sang their way through "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Good King Winslow", "Jingle Bells", and "The Dreidel Song".

The carolers quieted down, and for a moment, Kelsi thought they were going to go on their way.

"O Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining." A beautiful tenor began, and Kelsi gaped. She might not always recognize his speaking voice, but Kelsi would have to be deaf ten years before she forgot what Ryan Evans's sounded like when he sang.

The carolers stepped to the side—and of course, there he was, holding the little girl with the braids and the purple hat, singing his heart out—just like he always did. Kelsi laid her head on her mother's shoulder and listened to the beautiful voice ring through the night air.

Everyone—the carolers and listeners alike—burst into applause as the song came to an end. Kelsi watched as he sketched a bow for everyone around him, the baby still up on his hip.

She was just making a mental note to tell him how beautifully he'd sang tomorrow at school, when he looked over in her direction. She watched as he held a quick, whispered conference with an older black man who seemed to be in charge of the carolers. The man smiled and nodded, and Ryan shifted the little girl over to another girl who looked to be about the same age—and height—as Kelsi herself.

A moment later, Ryan jogged over to her yard and to her front porch. He paused at the bottom of the three steps that lead onto her porch, grinning up at her.

"Hey, Kels!" he said, before addressing her mother. "Hi, Ms. Nielson."

Kelsi could tell her mother was having a hard time placing Ryan, and she opened her mouth to help her, when Star's expression cleared. "Oh, hello! I didn't recognize you…out of costume." Star said, carefully avoiding any sensitive Santa related statement for the benefit of the little ones still in earshot.

Ryan beamed, and Kelsi wanted to giggle. She'd never breath a word of it, for fear of vast and rapid retribution, but Ryan—when he happy—always put her in mind of an overeager puppy. And his puppy like qualities were in full effect at the moment.

"It's okay." Ryan assured her mother, still beaming. "I get that a lot. How are you, Kelsi?" He directed the last part of his question toward her, and she grinned.

"Okay, I guess." She said, rubbing her forehead a little.

"That's good." Ryan said. "Are you going to be in school tomorrow?"

"Yes." Kelsi declared, just as Star said, "No."

Mother and daughter glared at each other, and Kelsi looked back at the blond boy. "Maybe."

Ryan nodded in understanding, before flashing a brighter smile at her. "I gotcha. Well, listen, I was wondering if—"

"Ryan! DUDE!" A voice suddenly shouted from the cluster of carolers still standing on Ms. McKnight's front yard. "Time to go!"

Ryan turned back and gestured vaguely at the carolers, and a muscular young man—about the same age as Kelsi and Ryan—stepped out of the crowd and gestured back.

"Hang on!" Ryan shouted, before turning back to Kelsi. "Anyway, I was wondering—"

"DUDE! We're _leaving_!" The muscular young man shouted again, and Ryan sighed, looking down at his feet for a long second, before shaking his head.

"I gotta go. Can I talk to you about something at school tomorrow? I mean, if you go." Ryan asked, looking up at Kelsi, and she blinked, before nodding.

"Sure." Kelsi agreed, her minding spinning about what it might be.

"DUDE! Quit flirting and come _on_!" Muscular Boy shouted again, and Ryan sighed again, his facing turning red in the dim light. Kelsi's cheeks got hot as well, and she thought she heard her mother muffle a giggle.

"I'm _coming!_" Ryan spun around and shouted, before looking back up at Kelsi. "I'll talk to you later, I guess. Nice seeing you again, Ms. Nielson. Good night!" He called as he loped across the yard, looking back over his shoulder to wave again.

Kelsi smiled and waved back, watching as he caught up with the other carolers. As soon as he was out of earshot—Kelsi hoped—her mother turned to look at her, her eyebrows lifted.

"He's a _cutie_. I couldn't tell yesterday, with the beard and everything, but…" Her mother grinned, and Kelsi groaned, covering her face with her hand.

"_Mom!_" She moaned.

"Wonder what he wants to ask you?" Star asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Kelsi opened her mouth, shut it, and then saw her opportunity. "I don't know—but you should let me go to school tomorrow, to find out what he wants."

Star frowned at her, before studying her closely, before sighing. "If you feel alright in the morning."

Kelsi grinned, before heading inside. "Honestly, I've never seen a child who _wants_ go to school when she can get out of it." She heard her mother mutter behind her as she followed. She then added, at a much louder volume, "And you have to tell me what the singing cutie wants!"

Kelsi groaned. Why couldn't she have a _normal _mother? A mother who freaked out about boys wanting to talk to her about things, not one that demanded details?

"I heard that, Kelsi Johanna!" Her mother teased from behind her, and Kelsi turned to stick her tongue out at her mother, before flopping back down on the couch to eat their only slightly cold take out.

Kelsi looked down at her curry, her mind spinning from something other than the pain medication she'd been taking. What did Ryan want?


	3. Chapter 3:What's a ChristmasGram? I Wan

_**Disclaimer**_: Yeah, they're not mine. If they were, I would be _so_ much richer.

_**Author's Note:**_ It's beginning to look like a plot. Maybe not so much this chapter, but next one actually begins the actual plot I've been trying—probably not very successfully—to hint out these past three chapters. Again, thank you to all your awesome reviewers, and I hope you keep on being entertained by the story!

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

_What's a Christmas-Gram? I Want One_

Honestly, it should _not_ be this difficult to find one sparkly, hat wearing boy, Kelsi groused to herself the next day. The small brunette was peering around the crowded cafeteria, trying to spot Ryan Evans to find out just what he had wanted with her the night before.

He hadn't been in homeroom for some reason, and Mrs. Darbus hadn't seemed too worried about it. Sharpay had been there, but Kelsi wasn't up for asking Sharpay a question with a head injury. It was bad enough when she was one hundred percent healthy.

He also hadn't shown during first period history, and when she'd gone looking for him in the theater and the practice rooms during free period, he was nowhere to be found. She didn't normally see him again until lunch time, which is what lead to her standing on the balcony over-looking the cafeteria, trying to spot a boy in a hat. She wasn't sure what type of hat he was wearing, but she was ninety nine percent certain that he'd be the only one in a hat, as long as it wasn't a baseball hat.

Low, happy sounding murmurs interrupted her thoughts. She was just wondering at it, when a quick laugh was barked out, startling her out of her thoughts. She spun around on her heel to see who was laughing, and found Alan Whittaker and Cyndra Plemmons happily sucking on candy canes and reading the Christmas Cards that accompanied the Student Government's annual Christmas Grams.

Taylor McKessie, in her role as Student Body President, was standing beside them, hurriedly digging through a large mesh bag, before presenting a Christmas Gram to Deedee Walker, who was on Cyndra's other side. Kelsi blinked, and watched as Taylor then proceeded to do the same for Leonard Mitchell and Connie Page, before checking all five names off on her list. She huffed out a breath, making her dark bangs fly up, before she caught Kelsi's eye.

"Kelsi!" She called, moving away from the table and grabbing a hold of Kelsi's arm. "_Please_ come help me!"

"Help you? Help you with what?" She asked, and Taylor sighed again.

"Hand out Christmas Grams!" The taller girl declared, already towing Kelsi along behind her as she made her way down the steps to the cafeteria proper. Kelsi immediately flinched at the idea. Hand out candy and cards to people she didn't know? No, _thank you_.

"Can't you get Gabriella or Martha to help?" Kelsi asked, trying to slow Taylor down by digging in her heels. However, she had underestimated the other girl's strength.

"They already are!" Taylor declared. "And so are Chad, Troy, Zeke and Jason! I even got that weird Jimmie kid and his friend the ball boy to help! And everyone else that I can find!"

"What?" Kelsi asked, pushing her glasses up her nose and following her friend. "How many did you get?"

"_Thousands_." Taylor declared dramatically, and Kelsi stopped in her tracks.

"What? Did you say you guys usually got like two or three hundred, at most?" Kelsi asked, her mouth following open.

"We usually do!" Taylor told her, and Kelsi blinked when she realize just how frazzled her friend was starting to look. "But just this morning we got a request for a candy gram for _everyone in the school_."

Kelsi gasped. "Are you _kidding_ me?"

"I _wish_. Actually, no I don't, because we just raised fifteen hundred dollars for school in one shot. But I still have to hand the stupid things out—_today!_" Taylor told her, before grabbing her arm and pulling her along again.

"Who bought a Candy Gram for everyone in the school?" Kelsi asked, shocked.

"We don't know!" Taylor told her, pulling her out of the lunch room and tugging her toward Mrs. Patterson's—the student government's faculty advisor—class room.

"You don't know?" Kelsi repeated dumbly. "How can you not know?"

"It was anonymous, and they paid in cash. Fifteen hundred dollars in _cash_! Who has that kind of money?" Taylor exclaimed, tugging her into the class room to see the rest of the student body—and most of their friends—hurriedly scribbling messages onto cards and tying it to the candy canes that went along with the grams.

Kelsi scrambled into a seat next to Martha Cox, watching as the dancer scrawled _Have a Happy Holiday! _across the card and tied it neatly to a candy cane. Martha beamed at her, wiggling a little in her seat.

"Isn't this cool?" Martha asked. "I can't believe someone paid for everyone in the school to get a Christmas Gram!"

"I know!" Gabriella chimed in from across the circle the Christmas Gram Makers had formed from the desks in Mrs. Patterson's room. "This way, no one will feel left out!"

"Who do you think did it?" Troy added, tying a candy cane to his card. It didn't work as well for him as it did for Martha, and he scowled down at it, trying to untangle the ribbon and start again.

"I bet it was one of the teachers." Martha said. "Or maybe all the teachers!"

"Well, Dad didn't say anything about it to me." Troy pointed out, still scowling down at the ribbon in front of him that was refusing to behave. Gabriella finally took pity on him and fixed the candy gram for him. He beamed at her in gratitude and Kelsi very carefully suppressed an eye roll.

"Less talking! More writing and tying!" Taylor declared, scooping up the completed Candy Grams and darting out the door.

--)---)----

Kelsi stared at her cramping hand, willing it to stop hurting. She'd been stooped over the desk for the past three hours, scrawling out Christmas Gram after Christmas Gram, and now all she wanted was to go home and sleep for a week. Plus, she hadn't even found Ryan to find out what he had wanted!

Rubbing the back of her neck, Kelsi meandered through the excitedly chattering students as she made her way to her locker after the final bell rang. As she walked, she couldn't help but over hear the rest of her class mates, or fail to notice that a lot of them were carrying around the Christmas cards that went with the candy grams.

The more she listened and noticed, the harder it got to feel grouchy about her aching hand. Yes, she had just written her hand off, but everyone was so _excited_ to have gotten one. Like most things of this nature that the school ran, the Christmas Grams tended to become a popularity contest—who got the most, and the best and the brightest. But this year, everyone had gotten at _least_ one. Everyone in the school got to feel a little bit better because someone had handed them a card and a candy cane in front of other people, proving to the world around them that someone liked them enough to send them a Christmas Gram.

It was actually kind of cool, the more she thought about it.

By the time she reached her locker, she couldn't wipe the smile off her face. She spun the combination, opening her locker—and found her _own_ Christmas Gram setting on top of her books.

Lifting it out of her locker, she grinned down at it, scanning the card—_Have a wonderfully Wildcat Christmas_! Apparently she had gotten one of the guy's cards after they had started getting "creative" about mid way through fifth period. She folded the card neatly and stuck it in one of her folders.

She turned on her heel to leave—and nearly smacked into Ryan Evans. The blond boy grinned at her, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Ryan!" She yelped, staggering back a step. "You scared me."

His grin turned slightly sheepish, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Where have you been? I was looking for you this morning." Kelsi told him, and he laughed.

"Sorry about that. I sort of conned Mrs. Darbus into letting me work on something all day. Which is actually what I wanted to talk to you about last night." Ryan told her, and Kelsi nodded.

"What's up?"

"What are you doing on Friday?" He asked, grinning brightly at her. Kelsi blinked, and stared at him.

"Ummm…nothing?" She said, and Ryan grinned.

"Cool. Would you be interested in playing for me?" He asked, and Kelsi stared at him. That was _not_ what she thought he was going to ask her. Of course, she hadn't actually been sure _what_ Ryan was going to ask her, but she was pretty sure it wasn't going to be that.

"Playing? Playing for what?" She asked, confused.

"Well, not for me. For my kids. Well, not my kids. The kids in my choir. Well, not my choir—the choir I help with at my church." He paused, and took a deep breath. "We have a concert. And our normal pianist has a family thing he can't get out of, and our back up pianist has her own concert to play at, so we we're kind of scrambling. And I thought you might be able to fill in, and we'll pay you." Ryan said all of this very fast, without seeming to take a breath.

"You want me to play a Christmas concert for your choir?" Kelsi translated, and Ryan beamed.

"Yes. I promise, none of its hard or anything. The kids are mostly like…five to six. We're talking Rudolph, here." Ryan rushed to explain, and Kelsi smiled at his expression. "Plus, did I mention you'd get paid?"

"You did bring that up a few times." Kelsi told him. "Sure."

"You'll do it?" He asked, a wide smile pulling at his face.

"Why not?" Kelsi shrugged, and Ryan clapped his hands.

"Awesome! I'll call you with the details, okay?" He asked, beaming. "Thank you _so much_. The kids will be thrilled!"

"Okay." She nodded, watching him turn on his heel and bound away. Some inexplicable urge made her suddenly shout, "Wait!"

Ryan paused and turned back to look at her. Kelsi blushed, not sure why she had stopped him. She opened her mouth and prayed that something half way intelligent would come out.

"What did your Christmas Gram say?" Thanks a lot mind. That's the best you could come up with? She groused silently to herself.

Ryan blinked, before shrugging. "Oh, I didn't get one. I'll talk to you later, okay?" With that, he was gone, disappearing around the corner.

Kelsi stared after him, confused. Hadn't Taylor said that everyone in the school was getting one? Why had they left Ryan out?

Maybe they just couldn't find him to give him the Christmas Gram? But that didn't sound right—Taylor was pretty relentless about giving these things out. She was going to get them all out today if it killed her and her impressed crew.

Maybe they had missed his name? But Gabriella and Martha had been the one doing the list of names—there was no way that they had missed Ryan. They were both _way_ to detailed oriented to do such a thing. Kelsi stood in the hallway, pondering this mystery until it was nearly empty.

Why hadn't Ryan gotten one?


	4. Chapter 4: Uh Oh, Sounds Like Someone Ne

_**Disclaimer**_: Did you read this yesterday? Nothing has changed since then. Still not mine. Still belongs to Disney.

_**Author's Note: **_ Sorry for the shortness.

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

_Uh Oh, Sounds Like Someone Needs to Sing a Christmas Carol._

Kelsi was going to _kill_ Ryan Evans.

She stood in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest, and stared out across the room in the church that Ryan had given her directions to yesterday. There had to be _at least_ twenty children in this room, and they all seemed intent on running and screaming as loudly as possible. Worse yet, Kelsi was relatively certain she had spotted Matt the Brat Who'd Sent Her to the Hospital, and she was _not_ looking for a repeat.

The smart thing to do would be to get in her mother's car right now, drive away and call Ryan and let him know that her car had broken down and she couldn't get there. That would be the smart thing to do, and the thing that would be most likely not to back fire on her in some way.

"Kelsi!" Ryan's voice startled her before she could put thought to action, and she whirled around to find the blond boy bounding up the hallway toward her. He was decked out in red and green, wearing a bright green sports jacket over a red shirt, with white pants. Honestly, the Evans twins had to be the only people in the world who could get away with wearing _white pants_. Anyone else would have stained the damn things before they got out the door.

"Hi, Ryan." Kelsi forced a smile onto her face, and Ryan beamed at her.

"I'm so glad you're here. The kids are going to be so excited!" Ryan told her, slipping past her to bound into the room.

"How can you tell?" Kelsi muttered under her breath, following the young man into the room reluctantly. To her astonishment, the hooligans quickly settled down, setting down cross legged in front of Ryan and looking up at him expectantly. She had to hand it to him—Ryan certainly had them trained well.

"Hi guys!" Ryan started, and the rest of the children burst into several different versions of "Hi Mr. Ryan!". "So, remember how I told you that Mr. Sheldon wasn't going to be able to play today?" Here, several of the little girls wailed, and Kelsi pressed her lips together to keep from giggling as Ryan tried to suppress an eye roll. "Well, my friend Kelsi was nice enough to come and play for us today. Wasn't that nice of her?"

The children gleefully shouted that _yes_ that was very nice of Kelsi indeed. Kelsi herself flushed, and pressed her back against the wall, hoping that Ryan wasn't going with this where she thought he was going with this. Unfortunately, it appeared to be exactly where he was headed, as he waved her over to join him.

Blushing harder, Kelsi dragged her feet up to the front of the room, and she forced a smile onto her face as she reached the front of the room and was in front of the children.

"Okay, guys, this is my friend Kelsi."

"Hi Kelsi!" Most of the children echoed their teacher, and Kelsi forced herself to wave back.

"Now, what do we say to Kelsi for coming all the way down here to play for us?" Ryan asked.

"You're pretty!" A little boy with dark dreads in the front row stood up and bounded forward, wrapping his arms around her knees before anyone else could move. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Kelsi stared down at him, completely dumbfounded. What exactly was she supposed to say to that?

"Well, yes, you could say that, but not really what I was going for, Bryant." Ryan told the little boy, his blue eyes sparkling.

"Is she _your_ girlfriend, Mr. Ryan?" A little girl with very straight, very black hair asked from the back row, and Ryan looked up at her, his face way less amused now; in fact it was just about verging on panic.

"No, she's not my girlfriend, Sophia." Ryan told the little girl.

"But she's pretty!" A little girl with lots of dirty blond curls declared, like that one answer should be all that Ryan needed. "Don't you think she's pretty?"

Kelsi was pretty sure that her face was every bit as red as Ryan's Santa suit had been.

Ryan shot her a deeply apologetic look, before reaching down to pry the little boy he called Bryant off her legs. "Yes, I think she's very pretty."

"Then she's your girlfriend!" The first little—Sophia, Ryan had called her,--piped up.

"No, she's not." Ryan told the little girl patiently, pushing Bryant gently back into his seat on the carpet. "She's my friend."

"And she's girl!" Sophia added, and Ryan nodded.

"Yes, yes she is."

"Then she's your girlfriend!" Sophia declared, and Bryant wailed.

"No! She's my girlfriend!" The little boy declared, and that's when the little girl sitting next to the bouncy little curly haired girl began to sob.

"I don' _wan_' you to have a girlfriend!" Her long black hair was pulled into a pair of pigtails, and Kelsi blinked when she recognized the little girl from both the Crisis Center and from caroling.

"Aw, Sam, come here." Ryan dropped to one knee and held his arms out for the little girl. She flung herself at him with enough force to rock him back a little bit, and he rubbed her back gently. The look he gave Kelsi was extremely apologetic and Kelsi made herself smile back at him. "It's alright, baby girl."

"Is everything alright?" A new voice asked from the doorway, and Kelsi looked up to find a tall African American man standing in the doorway, his snow white hair drawn back into a ponytail at the nap of his neck.

Kelsi turned to look at Ryan, who grinned up at her apologetically and lifted the little girl he called Sam up onto this hip. "Everything's great, Reverend Jordan. I just think someone needs to sing a Christmas Carol, am I right?" He directed the last part of the question at the little girl in his arms, and she smiled at him.

The rest of the choir seemed to take this as some sort of signal, as they all jumped to their feet and cheered enthusiastically. And then the racket began again as they all tried to run toward the door and Reverend Jordan as fast as their little legs would take them.

"Guys, slow down!" Ryan called after them, keeping the little girl he called Sam up on his hip as he followed them. He looked back over his shoulder at Kelsi, mouthing "I'm so sorry" to her.

She smiled and shrugged. "It's okay." She mouthed back, and he smiled at her, before facing front and shouting again for the kids in his choir to slow down.

Kelsi couldn't quite stop the smile that grew on her face as she followed Ryan out the door, as he continued to try and talk over the excited children.

"No, we are not singing 'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer', Bryant!"


End file.
